On the road again

I'm heading to Amsterdam this afternoon, so no new posts for a couple days. I'll be back here with new stuff on Tuesday, but until then have a great weekend!

Metro Love

I just discovered the site Croisé dans le Métro via Prêt à Voyager and am sort of addicted. It's basically the same idea as "Missed Connections" on Craigslist, only all the posts sound even more lovely and romantic because they're in French. Here's one of my favorites (with a very imperfect translation by me).

Ce matin, 18 novembre à 08h00 environ. Vous vous êtes assise en face de moi… Vous m’avez souri… Un vrai poème. J’ai arrêté de lire et vous ai observée… Manteau noir, écharpe bleu-marine, bottes marrons… Vous êtes blonde, cheveux longs. Et vous avez un sourire à cueillir la lune, à gravir des montagnes, à affronter la mer sur un radeau de fortune.
Vous m’avez souri deux fois. Vous êtes descendue à Nanterre. Je vous ai suivi puis perdu de vue… J’étais triste.
J’espère du fond du cœur vous revoir.

This morning, November 18th, around 8:00. You were sitting across from me... You smiled at me... A true poem. I stopped reading and looked at you... Black coat, teal blue scarf, brown boots... You are blonde, with long hair. And you have a smile to catch the moon, to climb mountains, to brave the sea on a raft of fate.
You smiled at me twice. You got off at Nanterre. I followed but lost sight of you...
I was sad.
I hope from the bottom of my heart to see you again.


(cool photo of the metro by Sebastien Fantini)

L'Opera Garnier

A couple weeks ago I went to see the ballet Joyaux at the Opera Garnier. I had never heard of the ballet before, I honestly went just to have the chance to see a show at this incredibly beautiful opera house. I would have gone to see just about anything!

The ballet ended up being entirely wonderful and enchanting, with gorgeous costumes and set design by Christian Lacroix (this is Paris, after all). And the Opera was even more breathtaking than I could have imagined - pictures in art history textbooks do not do this place justice. And neither do mine, for that matter, so you'll just have to bear with me and imagine.

The ceilings! Sigh. It's hard to tell in this picture, but there are painted vignettes by Chagall
of different ballets and operas all across the ceiling.

I felt like this girl, completely captivated, leaning over the railing to soak it all in.

Renoir's At the Theatre (La Premiere Sortie)

Cute kid at the Tuileries garden

'Tis the season

It's officially the hoilday season in Paris as all the stores have begun putting out their decorations in full force.  I've heard that this time of year is one of the most magical times to be in the city. Here's some of what I'm looking forward to this Christmas:

Going ice-skating outside the Hôtel de Ville.

Eating a traditional bûche de Noël.

Seeing the holiday department store window displays here.

Going to one of the many Christmas markets around the city.

Finally going to chez Angelina for the legendary hot chocolate.

Mont Saint-Michel

On the second day of our school trip we came here, and it was one of the most incredible, beautiful places I've ever been.  The town that's built up around the base of the Mont is what you would imagine a little fairy-tale French village to be, all winding cobblestone streets and hidden passageways, cozy shops and crêperies. The monastery at the top is beautiful, too, but the best part of it all is the view.  Mont Saint-Michel is a tidal island in the Couesnon River, so all you see for miles is water and sky.

And one more

These have seen a lot of cobblestone streets lately.

Drawings

I've been working on a few new drawings lately, mostly of various random objects that I use everyday.  This is the very high-tech cell phone I bought shortly after I got to Paris.  And by high-tech I mean that it makes calls, and that's about it.

The Lazy Dog

I went to The Lazy Dog gallery/bookstore yesterday to check out their new show, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." They invited a bunch of artists to create interpretations of the sentence, and the results were pretty cool.

You can watch a fun short video about the show here.

Bayeux

So the great photo catch-up begins with a few pictures of the town of Bayeux in Normandy. We stopped there briefly on our school trip to Omaha Beach and Mont Saint Michel, and I can't tell you how nice of a change it was from the pace of city life in Paris. We spent the afternoon just wandering around the town, enjoying the tranquility of the old shop-lined streets, exploring the cathedral and an open-air market, and eating apple tarts, a specialty of the region.

Bayeux is also the home of the Bayeux tapestry, a 230 foot long embroidered piece of linen that dates from around the 12th century.  The tapestry depicts the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

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We spent a little while at the tapestry museum, walking the length of the fabric.  The audio guides were helpful, but they were also in very fast-paced French so I may have missed a few things.  I still enjoyed all the little details, though, like this guy's awesome moustache.

Back from les petites vacances

I just got back from a short but wonderful trip to Dublin. Pictures will be coming soon!  I know this blog is technically about Paris, but everyone can use a little break now and then, right?  In other news, while I was gone it somehow turned into winter in Paris. It may still look like fall, but it doesn't feel like it! I finally had to break out the winter coat today.

I'm off to do some studying (love those french exams) but you can look forward to more photos/updates tomorrow, I promise!

Merci

Sometime last year I saved this photo from Marie Clarie Maison, thinking it was just a cool photo shoot.

Au contraire, my friends! Thanks to Black Eiffel (you can see the original post here), I discovered today that this lovely place actually exists. And it's a store in Paris! And since I just happen to be in Paris...

Long story short, I went to Merci this afternoon and it was incredible. I want to move in! They have so much stuff - clothes, shoes, antiques, furniture, jewelery, flowers, office supplies (yes!), and even art exhibitions. Plus the space itself is amazing, like a cool industrial loft combined with a sophisticated Parisian apartment building. They must have thought I was crazy because I took pictures of basically the entire store, that is how much I loved this place. Oh and did I mention they have a café combined with a used book store?

Merci
111 boulevard Beaumarchais
75003 Paris